Save The Last Dance
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Lily attends her Yule Ball with conflicting emotions, for the last few years her love for James and her friendship with Severus had torn her apart, but things are reaching breaking point.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

* * *

Word Count: 1730

Title: Save The Last Dance

Note:

Warnings:

Beta: darkangelofsorrowreturns

Yule Event ⅓: Snape/Lily interactions at the ball. Lily focused to hit the prompt

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Event: Severus Snape's Birthday: Prompt 3: Severus from another character's perspective.

(word) obvious

(word) knowledge

* * *

Hogwarts

Assignment 2: Foreign Exchange: International Cooperation: Task #2 - Students need to be 17 to Enter: Write about a coming-of-age ritual/celebration (Yule Ball)

Yearly:

Prompt 534 [Colour] Gold

Take A Prompt: [Pairing] James/Lily

Supernatural Club: Elizabeth Johnson/The Countess (AHS: Hotel): (dialogue) "A woman can only be pushed so far, and I'm right on the edge."

Bingo:

N3 - FREE SPACE

* * *

Lily was standing in front of the mirror, doing some light make-up and thinking about tonight. The Yule Ball event was supposed to be such a special time for a young woman, but she felt like she was being pulled into two different directions. On the one hand, there was Severus, her best friend since she was a child, the first one to make her feel special, but on the other, there was James, the handsome, irresponsible James who made her heart race. This Yule Ball was exclusive to the seventh years and was a rite of passage for a young woman.

Both men had asked her to the ball, so in the end, she told them both no because she just wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to hurt Severus, he had always been so good to her, that is, until recently. He had gotten involved with the wrong crowd, and Lily was disappointed in his choices. She wasn't ready to give up on him yet. She sighed to herself, this was going to be the toughest decision she would ever make.

She was wearing golden robes and had her red hair curled in loose ringlets. She really liked James, and she was intending to tell him how she felt tonight. The only thing that scared her was the reaction she would get from Severus; she knew he had feelings for her other than just friendship.

She paused before she went down the stairs of the Gryffindor common room, taking a deep breath before she went downstairs where James and the rest of his friends were waiting for her. Marlene was already there with Sirius. She smiled at her cheerfully.

* * *

The group of Gryffindor students reached the ball together; they walked into the great hall to see it decorated in whites and gold. It had soft lightning from the stars above causing a romantic aura on the place.

"Marlene, do you want to dance?" Sirius asked, and she watched Marlene nodding eagerly before she was lead onto the dance floor. Lily watched them for a while, happy that the two of them had found each other in such a time as this. A war, a war that would separate friends and family...to find someone you love and hold onto them, that was a feat.

She felt the need to scan the Great Hall for Severus, she was sure he would be there. His Slytherin friends would join the festivities as well, even if just for the night. She was aware of James staring at her, but she didn't know how she would explain it. She was looking for her friend, basically ignoring the man she had feelings for, but something inside was telling her that this would be the last time she saw Severus, and even if she was being paranoid, she was used to trusting her instincts. When Severus walked in, wearing a cloak of royal green, with Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, his eyes found hers immediately. It looked like he wanted to smile, but instead he turned his gaze from her and followed the Slytherin group to a table at the edge of the hall.

"Lily," she heard James say behind her back. "If you like him, you should have chosen him."

"I haven't chosen anyone yet, not really," she said with a small sigh.

"What does that mean? Do you like me or not?" James asked slightly irritated.

"Severus is my dearest old friend, but I don't love him," she started. "As for you—" she stopped. There was someone tapping her shoulder.

"Lily," she heard Severus say.

"Sev," she smiled, turning away from James for a moment.

"I'll go get some punch," James muttered before leaving them alone together.

"A woman can only be pushed so far, and I'm right on the edge," she muttered annoyed. These two men had been trying to pull her in opposite directions for years.

"I'm sorry," Severus said simply.

Lily knew what he meant, those things he said. Of course he didn't mean to call her that. He cared too much for her. All that happened was that he was on the wrong path, a path he had chosen, but one where she could not follow him. It was obvious his attempt to seek out knowledge was his undoing.

"Good," she smiled at him.

"I do care about you, you know," he said softly, and his eyes flickered over to the table where the snakes were watching him.

"I'll talk to you again later, okay?" Lily said. Severus nodded.

"And Lily," he added as she walked away. "Save the last dance for me." Then he went back to the table of Slytherins. She smiled to herself, wondering what had happened that made them almost like strangers, and with a glance at the table of Slytherins, she knew what it was.

James took her out on the dance floor, and she made sure to dance to practically every song that was played, even when she became out of breath and her feet were sore in her gold ballet shoes that were hidden beneath her dress. Lily laughed as she saw Marlene being twirled around, and James noticed her attention on their friends. He tried to twirl her around like Sirius did, and she ended up falling right onto her ass on the dancefloor, laughing hysterically at James.

The take turns dancing, and even Remus takes a shot at dancing with her, he is uncoordinated and steps on her toes, but she just smiles and bares it, because this might be the last chance she has to have all her friends together.

She walks over to her table, and grabbing a glass of water from the table, she turned to watch the others still on the dance floor. She even spotted Professor Dumbledore with the Divination Professor. She groaned when she saw Professor Slughorn walking over to the Marauders' table.

"Miss Evans," he greeted her.

"Good evening, professor," she said, forcing a smile onto her face. She really found him quite conceited.

"Can I have a dance, Miss Evans?" he asked. She swallowed her retort, she knew House points couldn't really scare her anymore, but it wasn't worth it. So she followed her Potions professor to the dance floor, and as soon as the song was done, she insisted she needed to be excused to the ladies room.

"You were dancing with Slughorn," Marlene said in the bathroom, a look of horror on her face.

"The price of being his favourite, I suppose," she laughed, splashing some cold water on her face.

"And being a girl," Marlene added.

"Well, I don't suppose he is that progressive, is he?" Lily teased, and the two of them rejoined the party.

* * *

Lily felt Severus watching her, and somehow that made it feel better, as if he was somehow sharing in her happiness, even from afar. When she snuck glances at him, she saw him miserably talking with Lucius, or looking back at her with thinly veiled emotions. She supposed from the outside he would appear cold, haughty, like the rest of them, but she could see right through the facade. That was one reason why she knew they would never be able to remain friends, not after all of the things that he chose to do.

The music stopped, and they sat down at their chosen tables to have a feast. There was laughter from the teachers table, and Lily overheard professor Slughorn telling a joke he got out of a cracker. It seemed incredible the amount of happiness contained in this one room when the world outside was looking darker and darker by the day.

* * *

"Can we go talk alone?" James asked, whisking her from a fast paced dance with the entire friend group. She nodded, taking his hand and letting him lead her to a corner of the room. The rest of the group didn't spare them more than a quick glance, and everyone was so captured by the merriment that they didn't even notice the two of them way closer than was strictly allowed in public. The only eyes she felt on her were those of her former best friend, and she suspected he knew what was about to happen.

"Lily, I," James muttered, fumbling nervously over his words.

"I love you, James," she whispered into his ear, taking the chance and going for it herself. She knew that was what he was going to say, so why waste any more time?

"I love you too, Lils," he replied, and his lips were close enough for her to feel the heat on her ear.

"Do you trust me?" she asked, pulling back slightly from his embrace.

"Of course," James replied curiously.

"Can I dance with him?" she asked, nodding in Severus's direction. She could tell the battle was raging inside him on how to answer, she knew he hated him, but he wanted to do everything in his power to make her happy, so he nodded. He let her walk away, only because he knew she loved him and not Severus.

* * *

It was nearing the end of the night, and she knew they would be leaving for the Gryffindor house party after this.

"Shall we?" she said, holding out her hand for Severus to take. He nodded grimly. As they spun around the dance floor, she wished she could say what he needed to hear, that is wasn't too late…

"I've joined them, you know," Severus muttered softly.

"I noticed," she said, nodding slightly.

"This is the last time," he added.

"I know."

"How could you possibly?" he said, his voice tainted with a sneer.

"We used to be friends, once," she said simply. She made it sound simple, yet she understood it wasn't like that at all.

The song finished, and so did their dance, but neither wanted to let go just yet. It was as if time had stood still, just long enough for them to immortalise this memory forever, because this was how they wanted to remember each other. Lily wanted to remember her best friend as he was, and not what he had chosen to become.

When James took her hand and led her from the Great Hall, she didn't glance back at Severus, but she felt the tears hidden unshed behind her mask.


End file.
